Mission Impossible
by uselessfork
Summary: In which Kakashi nearly dies (again), Sakura is exhausted, and Tsunade decides that both nin need a vacation of sorts. Of course, 'vacation' directly translates to 'diplomatic mission', and Sakura and Kakashi soon find themselves facing missing nin, angry innkeepers, and way too much sexual tension as they make their way to Mist. KakaSaku. Rated M for sexual themes and language.
1. Chapter 1

**Mission Impossible, Chapter One: A Vacation of Sorts**

* * *

The first sensation which Kakashi became aware of when he woke was that of an incredible soreness throughout his entire body. Not pain, exactly - more like the muscular soreness which was common the day after a harsh training session - or, more likely considering the last thing Kakashi could remember was being stabbed in the chest, the kind of soreness which resulted from a life threatening injury which had recently been healed by a medic. As far as pain went, that wasn't the worst option - after all, it did indicate that he _had_ in fact been healed, and as far as he could tell, he wasn't dead, so it seemed whoever had performed the healing had done a good job. What Kakashi wasn't so keen on was the lecture which usually accompanied him having to be brought back from near death. Again. If Kakashi wasn't feeling so incredibly tired, he might have summed up the energy to sigh in annoyance.

The smell of disinfectant reached Kakashi next, as his body began to wake up properly. At this point, Kakashi actually did let out an annoyed sigh. Great. So not only had he nearly died _again,_ but he was now in the freaking hospital. Kakashi _hated_ the hospital. Sometimes he honestly wished whoever was unlucky enough to have to stitch him back together again would just not bother. The Hokage would surely call that statement 'ridiculously dramatic' (as she had that one time that Kakashi had gone into hiding for three days after a vague comment on her part about him becoming the sixth Hokage eventually). But Kami, it would be better than having to stay confined to a hospital bed for however long his injuries merited, unable to do so much as go for a run with his dogs. Perhaps he could sneak out before anyone noticed he'd woken up, Kakashi reasoned in a pathetic attempt at optimism. He'd done that once before. Sure, Shizune had found him and dragged him back to bed by his ear, but he'd gotten a decent twenty minute walk in before that happened.

Unfortunately, his sigh seemed to have attracted someone's attention. From beside his bed, Kakashi heard a tiny sigh of relief, and the sound of someone rising from a chair. Slightly annoyed at himself for not detecting a chakra signature right away, Kakashi forced his eyes open, squinting against the sudden brightness of the hospital lights.

He wasn't exactly surprised to open his eyes to find Sakura standing beside his bed, anxiously gripping a clipboard. She'd been there the last few times he'd ended up in the hospital too; according to the Hokage, she refused to let any of the less experienced medics treat him. Kakashi had been vaguely flattered, if a little amused at the over protectiveness she seemed to exhibit when it came to members of her team.

No, it wasn't a surprise to see her standing there. What was slightly shocking, however, was to see her looking so exhausted. There were dark circles under her eyes, and she looked paler than he'd ever seen her. Her lips looked red and sore, as if she'd been biting them, and Kakashi could visibly see the tremors in her hands. She appeared as if she hadn't eaten, let alone slept. In days. Instinctively, he frowned.

"Sakura-" he began.

She quickly cut him off.

"What the hell were you thinking?" she demanded, voice tense and strained. Kakashi blinked. She usually saved her lectures for once he was much more healed, not the moment he woke up.

"What do you-"

"Do you have any idea how close you came to _dying?_" she cut him off again. "Do you have any idea how reckless and dangerous and _blind_ it was to attempt to complete such a difficult mission _alone? _Do you have any idea how hard it was to save you this time?"

Sakura's voice rose in pitch as she went on, and Kakashi couldn't help but think that she was bordering on hysterical. Ignoring the aching soreness in his chest, Kakashi pushed himself up into a sitting position, keeping his eyes on Sakura.

"This is the third time in three months that I've had to bring you back from almost _dying, _and you don't seem to care about that at all! What the hell made you think it was a good idea to continue the mission alone? Why didn't you wait for backup? You know, if it wasn't for Genma going after you, you'd be dead! How do you think I would feel if you-"

By that point Sakura was near shouting, and Kakashi had to admit he had never been more grateful to see Tsunade than at that moment. She swept into the room and moved to Sakura's side in one fluid motion, stopping the pink haired kunoichi mid sentence.

"Sakura." Tsunade said calmly, laying a hand on her apprentice's shoulder. "What's wrong? Why are you still here?"

Kakashi wouldn't describe the woman's voice as soothing, exactly, but it seemed to have that effect on the younger woman. Sakura turned to her shishou with wide eyes, looking uncharacteristically confused.

"Have you been home since I last saw you?" Tsunade frowned, taking in her apprentice's appearance. Sakura shook her head. Tsunade sighed, absently rubbing the girl's shoulder.

"You've been at the hospital for two straight days, Sakura." she admonished, though there wasn't a hint of anger in her tone. "Honestly, your shift ended twenty four hours ago. Go home and get some rest, girl."

Sakura stared at her for another moment before nodding mutely and traipsing out of the room. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, broken only by Tsunade's quiet sigh.

"Hang on a second." she muttered to Kakashi, following after her apprentice with a frown. "I'll just find Shizune to escort her home."

When Tsunade returned several minutes later, she was still frowning.

"I sent her home with Shizune. She's been overworking herself." she informed Kakashi, exasperation and something softer etched into her face. "I think I'm going to have to take her off active duty for a little while."

Kakashi felt a flash of empathy. He did not envy Sakura at all in that moment - he absolutely _hated_ being forced out of active duty. Privately, though, he did agree with Tsunade. Sakura had looked absolutely exhausted, and emotional outbursts weren't common from her. She definitely needed some rest.

"Anyway," Tsunade continued, turning her attention back to the copy nin with a stern glance. "Sakura may have been a little hysterical, but she was absolutely right. Continuing a mission like that alone was completely reckless on your part, even for you. When Genma brought you in, one of the medics in the emergency ward declared that you'd be dead within the hour. If not for Sakura's frankly stubborn efforts to keep you alive, you really would have died. For someone who's meant to be a genius, you're an absolute idiot, Hatake."

Kakashi considered that for a moment.

"Well, I can't disagree with such sound logic." he nodded sagely. Tsunade rolled her eyes.

"You're on bed rest for three days." she informed him sternly. "I'll assign Shizune to your recovery, considering you managed to damage your body far beyond a normal medic's healing capacities. You should be fine in the long term, though, so consider yourself very lucky. And I'd advise buying Sakura something very expensive to make up for ruining her day. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to find out what kind of hours Sakura has been working lately. Shizune will be in to check on you later."

That said, the Hokage began to make her way out the door.

"Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi called, stopping her in the doorway. Perhaps because he'd actually addressed her with the traditional amount of respect for once, Tsunade looked a little surprised. Her raised eyebrow was Kakashi's cue to continue.

"Is... Sakura going to be okay?" he asked awkwardly. Tsunade, bless her, didn't laugh at his attempt at hiding his concern. She knew that Hatake cared more about his friends than almost anyone else she knew - he was just really, really terrible at expressing it without feeling uncomfortable. A lifetime of trauma and having to pick up social cues from Jiraiya's Icha Icha novels had left Kakashi more hopeless than most at expressing his emotions. To the point where he frequently shunshined away from uncomfortable situations, usually as soon as 'feelings' were mentioned. It made him very hard to track down.

"She'll be fine." she assured him, not unkindly. "That girl has the two top medics in the world looking after her. Believe me, Shizune and I will make sure she's alright."

She pretended she didn't see the little flicker of relief in Kakashi's eyes as she left the room.

* * *

Sakura awoke after a long, long sleep to the sound of movement in her kitchen. Confused, she climbed out of bed, noting with some interest that it was a much brighter morning light outside. Hadn't it been afternoon when she was sent home? Surely she couldn't have slept right through till the following morning.

She entered her kitchen to find her shishou making breakfast.

"Tsunade-sama?" Sakura asked in confusion, rubbing sleep from her eyes. No doubt Tsunade had known she was awake from the moment she woke up, but she still turned to Sakura with an uncharacteristically relieved smile, and handed her a plate, which she promptly flipped an omelette onto. Sakura stared at the plate in her hands, and then back up at Tsunade, not quite making the connection. Tsunade never cooked. Like, never.

"Good to see you awake." Tsunade patted Sakura's head fondly before steering her into a chair at the table. She took a seat opposite the girl; Sakura couldn't help but note how comfortable Tsunade looked in her tiny kitchen, even though she couldn't actually recall the last time her shishou had been in it. Briefly, she entertained the notion that perhaps she was still dreaming.

"Eat. You've lost weight." Tsunade instructed, looking pointedly at the plate of food in front of Sakura. Her shishou's commanding tone had the desired effect on her, and she began to eat her breakfast. Until she'd actually began to eat, Sakura hadn't realised how hungry she was.

"I've taken you off the hospital roster." Tsunade began conversationally as Sakura ate. She completely ignored the look of indignation which Sakura sent her way. "And I'm putting you on three days of enforced rest."

Needless to say, Sakura did not look delighted.

"Shishou-" she began plaintively.

"I'm not changing my mind on this one." Tsunade warned her. "You've been completely overworking yourself lately - taking extra shifts, working extra hours. Shizune even told me that you passed out from chakra exhaustion at the hospital last week."

Eyes downcast, Sakura bit her lip. When her shishou laid out the facts like that, it did sound kind of bad.

"Now," Tsunade continued, voice softening a little as she took in her apprentice's defeated countenance. "Is something wrong? Last time you overworked yourself like this was when you lost your first patient. I know you take on too much when you're trying to distract yourself, but this is excessive."

Sakura shook her head emphatically.

"I'm fine." she insisted, ignoring the skeptical look her shishou sent her. "I'm just... I don't know. I understand that I overdid it this week, but please don't take me off the roster. I have patients to look after, and I promised I'd help Ino with one of her case reviews, and there's this technique I want to try out on one of my patients that I really think could-"

"For the love of Kami, Sakura, this isn't up for discussion!" Tsunade interrupted. "You will take three days of rest. After that, you will come to see me, and I will decide what to do with you. Until then, I don't want to hear about you coming to the hospital, or the Hokage tower. Rest." she enunciated sternly.

Sakura knew that look.

"Fine." she agreed, barely able to suppress and exasperated sigh. The enforced rest was an absolute pain, but she could always take the chance to catch up on some medical reading and get some extra training in, she reasoned. Ino was always up for a spar.

* * *

Three days later, Kakashi checked himself out of the hospital, ducked home to get changed into mission gear, and headed straight for the Hokage tower. He figured he could convince Tsunade-sama to let him get straight back to work - after all, Shizune had proclaimed him to be in vaguely good health, which was all the reassurance Kakashi had needed.

As he made his way into the waiting room, a flash of pink hair caught his eye. Kakashi briefly considered blending into the nearest wall, or employing a doujutsu so that he could literally let the ground swallow him, but it seemed he hadn't been quick enough.

"Kakashi-sensei." Sakura spoke first, hovering awkwardly outside the door to the Hokage's office. The first thing Kakashi noticed was the nervous expression on her face - as if she wasn't sure how to address him after the other day in the hospital. Her outburst hung heavily in the air between them. She looked superficially better than she had three days before, Kakashi could see, but the look of exhaustion still clung to his ex-student like a cloak. To put her out of her misery, he greeted her in much the same fashion as she had greeted him. Except, you know, he tried not to look as if he was about to have a nervous breakdown while doing it. He didn't think that would be the best thing to reciprocate.

"Sakura." he lifted a hand unnecessarily in greeting, crinkling his visible eye into an innocent smile. "Good to see you've had some beauty sleep."

She scowled in return, exuding a faint killing intent. _Huh,_ thought Kakashi uneasily, _she's not quite ready for jokes yet, then._

Thankfully, the door to the Hokage's office swung open at that moment, ejecting a rather red faced chuunin who was quietly muttering something about 'scariest fucking lady I've ever met' to a vaguely amused Shizune. Kakashi smirked beneath his mask. He could definitely see how the Hokage could be found terrifying, but in his opinion it was far too much fun to wind her up to bother heeding that fact. Actually, Kakashi mused, his skill at subtly undermining the Hokage just to see her reaction was second only to Shizune's, who seemed to take an uncharacteristic joy in switching her stash of sake with various vegetables whenever she found the time. For such a kind woman, Shizune was surprisingly wily when it came to getting around the Hokage's bad habits - although Kakashi supposed that if he'd spent most of his life trying to keep Tsunade organised, he would be on the same level as Shizune.

And as much as Kakashi envied Shizune her cunning, he had to admit that he preferred spending time with the pink haired medic than the blonde - after all, both Tsunade and Sakura would happily throw him into a tree given the chance, but Sakura at least had the cover of 'training' and 'improving her skill set' to reassure him that she hadn't _really_ meant to throw him so hard. Tsunade just liked to resort to throwing him around (or throwing various office supplies at him) whenever she got too annoyed at his carefully crafted veneer of social ineptitude, and since she was the Hokage, Kakashi's complaints usually fell on selectively deaf ears.

Of course, Kakashi was a loyalist at heart, and he held a particular (if wary) fondness for this particular Hokage. After all, he had grown up having to reluctantly let Tsunade mother him, when she wasn't revolutionizing the medical system or beating the living crap out of Jiraiya-sama. And she had been absolutely invaluable in rebuilding Konoha's reputation after Orochimaru's attack on the village six years prior. So despite the amusement he often found in blithely insisting that yes, he did have a valid reason to be late to the Hokage's summons (Mr Ukki had needed cheering up after a bad day), and no, he had not been aware that pot plants weren't conventionally considered to be sentient beings that needed cheering up, and no way, of course that wasn't porn he was reading in the Hokage's office - if it came to a situation that truly needed his attention, Kakashi was the picture of calm professionalism.

"Get in here." came Tsunade's exasperated call from within the office. Considering the fact that Sakura was also hovering outside the door, Kakashi wasn't entirely sure that the Hokage was talking to him. He'd never let that bother him before, though, so he walked straight into the office after Sakura, hands in his pockets to indicate that he was as relaxed as could be, even as Sakura's expression turned vaguely panicked when she realised he was entering the office with her. At that Kakashi felt a little guilty, but he figured that if Tsunade wanted him out she would very calmly and politely ask him to leave. Or something along those lines.

As it turned out, he needn't have worried.

"Oh, good." Tsunade looked up as they both walked in. "You're both here."

Kakashi felt the first stirrings of unease when Tsunade flickered her eyes between them, a hint of amusement curving her lips into a small smile.

"You two have both been giving me a headache these last few days." she informed them with a raised brow. The untrained eye wouldn't have caught the almost imperceptible slump in Sakura's shoulders at Tsunade's words. Obviously, being an elite jounin and a Hokage respectively, Kakashi and Tsunade both caught the movement easily. They collectively decided to say nothing.

"I've decided you're both in need of a change of scenery." Here the Hokage sighed, looking a little annoyed at something which Kakashi couldn't figure out, though he suspected she would soon divulge it. "Usually, I would put you both on extended leave for a couple of weeks and send you off to some hot springs to get your shit together- I mean, recover."

Despite himself, Kakashi felt that he wouldn't _really_ mind spending two weeks at a hot springs with Sakura, especially if the baths were mixed genders.

He quickly quelled that thought. It was wildly inappropriate, and he didn't want the Hokage to somehow sense it and kill him.

"However," continued Tsunade, "I can't afford to do that right now. Something has come up, and from this point on, the information I provide will be treated as highly sensitive."

She waited for both Sakura and Kakashi's serious nods before continuing. Kakashi almost missed the pulse of chakra that went around the room, signalling that Tsunade was checking the privacy seals. The woman didn't even blink an eye as she sent out her chakra signal, a feat which mildly impressed Kakashi.

"As you both know, our alliance with Mist has been tentative of late." Tsunade sighed. "Obviously it was never expected that the Shinobi Alliance would stand once the war was finished, so it was nice to have Mist extend that offer of a continued alliance. However, since then, relations have been a little shaky, to say the least. The Raikage has been an absolute pain in my ass, and now some 'missing' nin" (Tsunade placed enough emphasis on 'missing' to make it clear that she was skeptical as to their runaway status) "from Kumo have started leading small attacks against the outer villages of Mist and spreading propaganda in an attempt to disrupt our alliance. Exactly what they stand to gain from that, I'm unsure, which leads me to believe that the Raikage has a lot more to do with the activity than he's let on. Either way, Konoha needs to smooth things over with the Mizukage and deal with the missing nin as a peace offering."

Sakura frowned, causing Tsunade to stop and wait for her apprentice to speak.

"Tsunade-sama," she began thoughtfully, eyes narrowed in consternation. "Wouldn't it be deemed quite offensive on Konoha's part to kill the missing nin ourselves? That just implies that we don't believe Mist is strong enough to deal with the issue in their own right, and that definitely won't ease tensions."

Kakashi thought he saw a rare hint of pride in the Hokage's eyes as she nodded approvingly at the younger kunoichi.

"Good observation. Obviously, Konoha has not extended an official offer to take care of the problem. Currently, the Mizukage is only aware that a political representative will be meeting with her to discuss the issue and reaffirm the alliance. That's where you two come in. Sakura, you will be the political representative, and your end goal will be to meet with the Mizukage and, after reassurances have been made, to offer to deal with the missing nin yourself so as not to cause any more trouble for Mist. Kakashi will escort you as your official bodyguard."

"I don't need a bodyguard, shishou." Sakura murmured, before biting her lip. The Hokage suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. Her apprentice was politically minded, intelligent, and had met the Mizukage before, making her a perfect candidate for the mission. Not to mention that she was the Hokage's own apprentice, which certainly sent a strong message to the Mizukage that their alliance was of a high level of importance to Konoha. Sakura's presence would be second only to the Hokage's own. However, Sakura was also quite stubborn when she wanted to be, and Tsunade had not missed the uncharacteristic tension which had sprung up between her and Hatake since he'd been admitted to the hospital. It was strange, as they usually got along quite well by all accounts. Intuitively, Tsunade knew that Sakura's annoyance with Kakashi came from a place of care for his wellbeing, but she was also aware that Sakura would not make it easy for Kakashi to apologise. She was a lot like her shishou in that regard.

"Sakura." Tsunade admonished her apprentice with a glance. "You know it would be insane to send you into foreign territory without a bodyguard. Hell, I'd usually send the rest of your team as well, if the boys weren't off on their own mission. Besides, this is as much for Hatake's wellbeing as your own. In lieu of a vacation, I'm sending you two on this mission to take the chance to recover as well. You're not expected in Mist for two weeks, which should give you plenty of time to travel at a moderate pace without putting excess strain on yourselves. There are a couple of problems I want you to deal with while you travel as well, specifically a band of thieves in one of Fire Country's outer villages and some reports of hostiles on the final stretch of road out of Fire. We simply don't have the personnel to send full teams at the moment, so you'll be saving us a lot of time by taking those little detours. I'll give you more details in the full mission briefing."

Reluctant though she was to travel with only Kakashi when there were so many unspoken conversations between them (first and foremost, what the fuck he was thinking lately, taking so many suicide missions), Sakura could easily see the merit of such a mission. In sending them both, Tsunade could hope to solidify the alliance with Mist, get rid of some extra irritations (such as the thieves), and give both of them as much of a break as was possible. Still. Sakura found herself bickering with Kakashi at the best of times, and she was currently more angry with him than she had been in a long time.

Or maybe she was upset.

Or maybe she was just trying to avoid talking about how much she worried about him rejoining ANBU and taking so many dangerous missions and returning to Konoha barely in one piece and how much it had scared her to nearly lose him this time round and-

And that thought was going absolutely nowhere helpful, so Sakura shut it off and returned to the task at hand. She found herself accepting the mission with a calm tone she wasn't quite sure she felt, and she heard Kakashi do the same. Heard rather than saw, because she was pointedly not looking at him.

"Good." Tsunade nodded, handing them each a mission briefing scroll. "Remember that you will both be attending political discussions, so make sure to pack some presentable clothes as well. You have two hours to pack and make any necessary arrangements before meeting at the gates. Hatake, I mean two hours, not six." She fixed him with a scary look. At the sight of it, Kakashi found that he suddenly thought it was quite a good idea to be on time that day. Funny, that.

* * *

Sakura was momentarily astounded when Kakashi did in fact turn up on time to depart from the gates. Their real mission was of high sensitivity, but their cover of 'clearing up a few hostile activities around the country' had worked quite well when Ino had accosted her on the way to the gate. Then again, Ino was so busy lately trying to pretend she wasn't dating Kiba that she didn't question much of what other people said; she was too caught up in hoping that no one had figured out that she and Kiba were more than friends to even notice. (They had. Everyone had.)

Kakashi led the way out of the village and immediately onto the main road, which would lead them away from Konoha and eventually onto busier roads. He walked slightly in front of Sakura, seemingly relaxed; Sakura could tell he had slipped into a higher state of vigilance, however. Whether Kakashi took charge on purpose or out of habit Sakura wasn't sure, but rather than be annoyed by it, it calmed her mood a little. After all, she'd never been on a mission with him where he wasn't her captain. That was familiar, even though Tsunade hadn't officially assigned a captain for the mission. Perhaps they could easily slip back into their usual banter - that was familiar, too.

They walked for several hours without exchanging more than a few words. To her own (and Kakashi's) surprise, it was Sakura who eventually broke the silence.

"You're limping." she pointed out. Kakashi looked slightly surprised. To be fair, to the untrained eye Kakashi wouldn't have looked as if he was limping at all - he was clearly doing his best to cover up whatever the issue was. Her eyes were not untrained, however. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes (barely), Sakura reached out and grabbed his wrist, tapping her fingers briefly against the skin which wasn't covered by his gloves to send a pulse of medical chakra through his body. The chakra pulse had the desired effect, and she quickly found the problem. There was a small tear in Kakashi's hamstring, small enough that Sakura wouldn't have been surprised to know that one of the younger medics had missed it. It was a surprise that Shizune had missed it, however, and Sakura was fairly sure the woman had healed Kakashi up personally while Sakura was on rest.

"You've got a torn muscle. Why didn't you let someone know your leg was hurting when you left the hospital?" Sakura asked, frowning.

"Oh, I didn't have a tear when I left the hospital."

Again, Sakura had to try very hard not to roll her eyes in exasperation.

"How did you manage to tear your hamstring in that small amount of time?" she asked, trying for patience. Kakashi looked vaguely uncomfortable, as if he was remembering something he'd rather not.

"Gai has moved next door to me." he supplied solemnly. Then he shrugged, as if that explained it all. Sakura had to admit that it sort of did.

"Sit down and I'll heal it." she sighed, gesturing to the side of the road. Once again Kakashi shrugged and veered off the road, seating himself with his back to one of the trees which lined both sides. He looked expectantly at Sakura as she crouched down beside him, then raised an eyebrow.

"You'll have to take your pants off." she stated flatly. He shrugged and acquiesced, slipping easily out of his jounin pants, and Sakura was just thinking that if he shrugged like that _one more time_ she was going to lose it when she noticed that he had surprisingly nice thighs.

And she blushed.

Because that was definitely not an appropriate thought, and she was going to hell for it.

More annoying still was that even though _he_ was the one that was sitting in front of her in his underwear, she was the one who was embarrassed. She was a jounin medic, Goddammit, and she had seen a hell of a lot of thighs in her life. Kami, she'd even seen more attractive thighs in her life. It was just that this was _Kakashi,_ and it had never entered her mind before that he might have attractive legs. Fucking hell.

Hoping that he hadn't noticed her blush (_and he almost definitely had, the asshole, _she thought unreasonably), Sakura pressed her fingers gently to the back of his thigh, quickly healing the tear.

Once she was satisfied that she'd healed the muscle seamlessly, Sakura climbed back to her feet, pointedly not looking at Kakashi any more than was necessary. The silence was broken by Kakashi's dry chuckle. Instinctively, Sakura put her hands on her hips, ready to turn and snap at Kakashi for laughing at her.

Except he wasn't laughing at her - he was looking over her shoulder, to the road... where a group of civilians stood... staring at Kakashi... who was sitting pants-less on the floor.

"Don't worry," Kakashi called out to the civilians, who at least had the decency to look slightly guilty at being caught staring (though they didn't actually _stop_). Sakura felt her blood pressure rising. "We're just resting."

As if it would make the situation better, Kakashi then crinkled his visible eye into a smile.

"Kakashi." Sakura hissed lowly. "Would you _please_ just _put your fucking pants back on._"

Kakashi sighed, climbing to his feet.

"And you were so eager to get me out of them only a minute ago." he muttered sulkily.

A sudden surge of killing intent from his ex student reminded Kakashi that he wasn't quite prepared to die that day. He quickly made his way back onto the road, carefully avoiding the gazes of the civilians, who were looking more and more uncomfortable by the second.

* * *

Three hours later, Shizune began sorting through the day's incoming paperwork. She paused when she got to a report from one of their civilian informants. It very politely informed the Hokage that they had met the Copy Nin earlier, and he hadn't been wearing any pants. It went on to politely add that 'the angry pink haired woman had reduced the other civilians to tears with the force of her killing intent, and could the Hokage please ask both nin to refrain from traumatizing the informant's other clients in the future'.

Shizune very calmly placed the report at the back of the pile - that way Tsunade-sama wouldn't read it until she'd started on her sake for the night, and Shizune thought that would probably be for the best.

She was glad the diplomatic mission was going well so far.

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys - this is the first chapter! I'd love it if you'd review and let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is always welcome. This will be a multichapter KakaSaku story, and will contain sexual themes, ridiculous plot devices, and smut. Hope you enjoy!**


	2. Chapter 2

"No. _Hell_ no, Kakashi. We are not making a detour just because of some stupid midnight screening. I want to sleep. You can wait until our _diplomatic mission_ is over, and then you can go watch your porn."

Kakashi looked scandalized.

"Sakura." he gazed at her solemnly. "To call the Icha Icha series 'porn' is like calling the Uchiha archives 'genin level eye-tricks'." He sighed forlornly. "As my favourite student, I expected better of you."

"I'm not even your student anymore!" she protested.

"And yet you still have so much to learn."

Sakura wasn't sure how exactly to respond to that, so she settled for attempting to forcibly repress any memory of what Kakashi had just said. She'd gotten quite good at that over the years.

Unfortunately, it seemed that ignoring Kakashi didn't actually make him drop the subject. Sakura wasn't entirely sure _how_ he managed it, but within the hour she had grudgingly agreed to take a slight detour to a nearby town and rest there for the night, so that Kakashi could go to a midnight screening of the new Icha Icha movie.

They strolled into the civilian town just as the sun started to set, and began looking for an inn for the night. Their mission budget was slightly higher than usual, mostly due to the importance of the mission and the recent influx in village income, so Sakura had calculated that they technically had enough money to stay in an inn each night up until their boat was scheduled to cross the water to Mist.

Obviously, they wouldn't technically be able to stay in an inn every night - there were some long stretches of road which would take a couple of days to travel, and Sakura knew they would spend those nights camping. Still, it was nice to be able to afford an inn.

Although, as it turned out, it was rather pointless. Because Kakashi, perhaps sensing victory, managed to persuade Sakura to join him for the movie.

She wasn't exactly sure why he would want her to come, but when he gave her the first genuine smile she'd seen from him in months, and called her 'Sakura' rather than his usual patronizing 'Sakura-chan', she agreed. She had the fleeting thought that this was probably his way of apologising.

She wasn't too sure how she felt about that.

* * *

"Harder." the heavily made up woman panted, letting out an exaggerated groan. "Yes, just like that, oh that's _so good."_

At that moment, Sakura was seriously considering punching one of the theatre walls hard enough for the roof to cave in. And kill her. Instantly.

Because when Kakashi had suggested the Icha Icha movie, she had assumed that the porn would be downplayed. Because, you know, they were in a _public cinema, _and Kakashi was watching the movie with _her_.

But, no. As usual, Kakashi didn't disappoint. They were only half an hour into the film and the lead female had already had three (rather improbable, in Sakura's medical opinion) orgasms, the male lead had professed his deep and undying love, and they both were struggling to overcome the challenges which their careers imposed upon them so that they could live happily ever after. Even worse, there had also been a complete lack of violent explosions, which was admittedly the most disappointing part for Sakura.

No disappointment, however, could trump the confusion she was feeling as she sat beside a completely unperturbed Kakashi, pretending it was perfectly normal practice for her to watch glorified porn with her team captain. Sure, it wasn't as if Sakura was squeamish when it came to sex, and she'd definitely seen porn before, in various forms. She'd just never expected to find herself watching it with Kakashi.

She tried with all her might to ignore the increasingly loud moans coming from onscreen, and the warmth which she could feel radiating from Kakashi's upper arm, which was only millimetres from hers. She put all of her effort into pretending she couldn't feel the strange tension which had settled in the pit of her stomach ever since she'd sat down beside Kakashi and everyone onscreen had started having sex like there was no tomorrow.

It was a pretty futile effort, to be honest.

Sakura suppressed a sigh and shifted slightly in her chair, leaning back a little. Her arm ended up resting against Kakashi's.

He was warm, and solid, and Kakashi didn't react at all other than to flash a quick glance at her. So she left her arm there, brushing against his. And as the movie continued, she found that she didn't really want to move. Some of the tension left her, and she finally began to relax. It was nice, she decided. She could even sort of tune out the unrealistic porn, and just close her eyes for a moment and-

Sakura awoke as Kakashi laid her down on the bed at the inn. For a moment, she was completely disorientated, glancing quickly around as she readied her body to attack whoever had been stupid enough to move her in her sleep.

Then she realised it was Kakashi, and the embarrassing thought that she must have fallen asleep on him caused her cheeks to flame red. Here she was, trying to prove her own competence, and she hadn't even noticed that Kakashi had carried her all the way back to the inn? Sakura would have scowled if she wasn't so sleepy.

And she was so tired. Exhausted. Even on her days of enforced rest she hadn't been able to have a truly restful sleep. So, rather than be a professional about it (and lecture him on inappropriate carrying misconduct. She was fairly sure that was a thing), Sakura merely blinked sleepily at him before rolling over and curling into a ball on the bed. She promptly fell straight back to sleep.

If she had been awake, however, she would have noticed Kakashi hesitating for a moment before laying a blanket over her, and taking the watch for the night.

* * *

The following day, it rained. The two nin left the inn early in the morning and rejoined the travellers' road. They walked in a comfortable silence for a couple of hours, and the whole time, Kakashi felt that something wasn't quite right. He couldn't place it at first; it was only when Sakura abruptly stopped that he realised she hadn't complained about the rain even once. When he'd been her teacher, he'd frequently had to listen to Sakura's quiet grumbling about how cold the rain was. Now, though, she didn't seem to care at all. It was mildly disconcerting. He often forgot that he wasn't her teacher anymore, and she wasn't the insecure little girl who complained about the rain and needed him to look after her. With another pang of surprise, Kakashi realised that this was technically Sakura's mission, and so far he'd been calling the shots. Perhaps he shouldn't be doing that? She didn't seem to mind, though.

"Can you feel that?" Sakura asked, breaking him from his thoughts. "There are active chakra signatures up ahead."

Kakashi had to remind himself then that a lot of Sakura's medical training with Tsunade was hinged on being able to sense chakra fluctuation - of course she would be a better sensor than him now. It was a weird thought, though.

A moment later, Kakashi could sense the chakra signatures too. They were still about half a mile away, he imagined, but close enough that he and Sakura could sense what was clearly a fight.

"Yes." he replied shortly. "We're still in Fire Country, but we have no obligation to investigate if we're not on a mission to do so."

Sakura shrugged nonchalantly, but he could see the curiosity behind her eyes.

"Our mission scroll does say to clean up some bandits along the road." she pointed out. "Does it specify which bandits?"

"Well-"

"Let's go see." Sakura interrupted decisively. Kakashi bit back a smile. He'd sort of been hoping she would say that.

It didn't take them long to reach the fight. They veered off the road and into the trees, running through the forest until they found the owners of the chakra signatures, some of which were huddled together against a tree.

Sakura recognised the genin team immediately as one of the recently graduated teams from the academy. She'd healed up one of the boys' broken arm the week before, and she'd met their jounin sensei, a Yamanaka man, at the same time. From what she could see, the three genin were huddled around the jounin, who looked to be unconscious.

She didn't recognise the two missing nin who were taking their time to terrorize them, but that didn't matter. The sight of them throwing senbon at the genin, almost lazily hitting non-vital spots, as if it were a game, was enough to make Sakura see red.

Thankfully, it appeared that no one had noticed her and Kakashi's presence yet.

With a tiny hiss of anger, Sakura launched herself onto the nearest nin. She had the element of surprise, and she broke his neck cleanly, using his body to break her fall as she hit the ground. Immediately, she was up on her feet, spinning to take the next nin. She needn't have worried. While she'd been occupied with the first shinobi, Kakashi had taken out the second with the quick thrust of a kunai.

Over the years, Sakura had learnt how to read Kakashi's expressions just from the narrowing of his visible eye, or the slight tenseness of his shoulders. And she could tell that right now, he was _pissed_.

She was, too. Killing genin was one thing; torturing them with senbon as they tried to protect their teacher's body? Totally another.

"It's okay." Sakura called out to the team, straightening her spine and adopting a non threatening posture. Beside her, she felt Kakashi do the same. "Is your teacher hurt?"

Sakura had never been so happy to have pink hair. They recognised her immediately, though the fear didn't leave their faces.

"There's another one." the genin closest to her croaked out.

"Wha-"

The blow hit her on the side of her head. Even a centimeter to the left, and it would have been her temple. Sakura had time to note vaguely that the third nin had done a good job suppressing his chakra signature before she was falling towards the ground. She felt slightly dazed, but she still managed to put her hands out to halt her fall. Using her own momentum as an aid, Sakura leaned her weight on her arms and swung her legs round in a wide sweep in an attempt to unbalance the other shinobi.

It didn't work, but it slightly lessened the embarrassment of knowing that the man had managed to catch her unawares.

Blinking quickly, as if that would lessen the dizziness, Sakura sprung back to her feet. Immediately, she felt Kakashi fall into a fighting stance behind her, so that they were back to back.

"That tricky bastard." Sakura muttered irritably. Kakashi snickered.

"You just don't like surprises." he replied, warding off a blow from the nin. Perhaps thinking that Sakura was the weakest link, the missing nin quickly spun to face her instead, and delivered a blow front on, aiming for her face.

Sakura rolled her eyes at Kakashi's comment as she caught the nin's hand and _crushed the bones to pieces._

The man screamed in pain.

"No." Sakura responded with a little huff of annoyance, flickering a glance at Kakashi. "I just don't like being punched in the head. Huge difference."

Kakashi sighed in mock exasperation as he flickered around Sakura to deliver a killing blow to the back of the now-screaming missing nin's head. The man collapsed to the ground.

"Some people just don't know when to shut up." he scowled at the man.

Sakura hummed her agreement distractedly. She was already turning back to the genin, who moved away from their unconscious sensei at the sight of the last man falling with something akin to cautious relief. Once again, Sakura was grateful for her pink hair; not only did they remember that she was a Konoha shinobi, but they recognised her as literally the only medic nin with pink hair in the entire village.

Sakura didn't waste any time in dropping to her knees beside the unconscious jounin sensei. A quick scan with her medical chakra revealed that the Yamanaka had received a hefty blow to the head, rendering him completely unconscious. Fortunately, the injury wasn't too serious. She quickly healed the man before leaping backwards as she felt his chakra flicker, indicating he was regaining consciousness. Shinobi were notoriously twitchy by nature, and she really didn't want to be on the receiving end of a reflexive blow from the jounin.

As the man pulled himself back to his feet, Sakura healed the three genin of their senbon wounds in turn, checking for poison as she went. In a way, the kids were lucky that the missing nin had wanted to toy with them. The senbon must have been painful, but none of them had hit vital spots.

The jounin thanked both her and Kakashi profusely after scanning his genin team for any other injuries. It was clear they were a close-knit team; the jounin had been injured protecting the genin. While she worked, Sakura could see Kakashi checking the bodies of the missing nin out of the corner of her eye.

"They're from Mist, originally, if their headbands are anything to go by." Kakashi announced casually. Sakura kept her face composed. That was an odd coincidence.

The Yamanaka jounin merely nodded.

"Well," he replied, "you could probably fetch a decent bounty for them if you're heading to any of the major towns. You're welcome to take their heads; they're your kills, after all."

Sakura grimaced. Ew. She'd rather not carry a decomposing corpse head if she could avoid it, thanks.

"We'll seal the bodies into scrolls." Kakashi replied, with an amused look at her expression. "We'd best be on our way, actually. We have to meet our client first thing tomorrow."

"Of course." replied the Yamanaka with a faint smile. "Thank you again for your help."

The team left soon after, leaving Kakashi and Sakura to seal up the bodies.

"Our client?" Sakura raised a delicate brow. Kakashi shrugged.

"It sounded plausible." he defended vaguely.

* * *

It rained harder throughout the day. By the time they reached the next town, it was dusk, and both nin were drenched to the bone. There was no discussion as they headed for the nearest inn. Neither shinobi wanted to camp out in the rain if they could help it, despite the fact that they could if they needed to. It just wasn't preferable.

"Dinner is sounding really good right now." Sakura groaned as she sunk onto the bed in their room. "But moving is sounding not so good."

She rolled onto her back and fixed Kakashi with wide, imploring eyes. Too late, Kakashi realised what she was doing.

"Would you get dinner and bring it back here tonight? Please?" Sakura fluttered her eyelashes for effect.

Kakashi snorted.

"Cute and vulnerable really isn't your style." he informed her drily. "You grew out of that around about the time you learned to punch people through buildings, in my eyes. It would probably still work on someone who didn't know you, though, so you get marks for effort."

"You don't think I'm cute?" Sakura frowned. For some reason, she was oddly offended. Being an elite ninja, this fact did not go unnoticed by Kakashi.

"Well, I mean, you're not cute like a puppy." he tried to explain. Sakura raised an eyebrow as if daring him to continue. Naturally, he did. "Not that I don't think you're, you know, er. Yes, well. What did you say you wanted for dinner?" he finished hurriedly.

"I didn't." Sakura murmured vaguely. She paused. "You know, people think I'm cute." she defended suddenly. Inwardly, Kakashi cursed himself for thinking it was a good idea to open his mouth in the first place. "People think I'm cute all the time. You should ask Genma. He said I have the best ass in Ko- whoa, why can I feel your killing intent?"

"Ah," Kakashi floundered. _Fuck, she is a good sensor now,_ he realised. _I thought I disguised that. _To his surprise, Sakura sat up and rolled her eyes before he could make more of a mess of the situation.

"Just so you know, that stuff is completely outdated." she informed him coolly, and once again Kakashi was blown away by how collected she was. "I can kill a man with my bare hands, bring someone back from the brink of death, and run a hospital if the need arises. I don't need your killing intent to protect me from having a sex life. You're not my teacher anymore, and even if you were, I wouldn't be some weak, defenseless girl who can't handle a guy like Genma."

Kakashi gaped. He couldn't see himself at that moment, but he imagined that even the mask covering most of his face couldn't possibly hide his own shock.

"Now," continued Sakura sweetly. "You were just about to go get dinner?"

She actually didn't think she'd ever seen Kakashi leave a room that quickly before. And that was saying something.

* * *

Kakashi eventually arrived back at the inn bearing gifts. Well, food. But considering how hungry Sakura was at that moment, food was definitely preferable. She leapt up in a burst of movement, startling Kakashi in her haste to get some energy back into her body. They sat on the floor together and ate in a comfortable silence.

Once they'd both eaten their share, Sakura could finally turn her mind to other matters. Namely, the fact that her clothing was still damp, and she was vaguely cold.

"Right, I'm having a bath." Sakura announced tiredly. Kakashi hummed his agreement absently. It took more effort than Sakura would care to admit to pull herself off the floor and into the small bathroom, where she stripped out of her wet clothing. She turned the taps on and breathed a sigh of relief as steam immediately began to fill the space, warming her before she'd even stepped into the bath. While she waited for the bath to fill, Sakura began to run her fingers through her hair, combing out the tangles.

The hot water brought a feeling of immense relief to her aching muscles and chilled skin. By the time Sakura finally dragged herself from the steam-filled bathroom, she was flushed, warm, and falling into a sleepy haze. Her final thought before she fell into a deep sleep was that she hadn't actually expected Kakashi to take the floor over the bed. She almost considered pulling him up onto the mattress before her eyes drifted close, and Sakura became lost to the waking world.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so I know this is a pretty short chapter, and I know it's been a while. Please don't be mad at me! I have been otherwise occupied. Also, plot is coming soon. I promise. It's like... I can sort of see it in the distance.**

**As always, reviews are appreciated!**


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